Friday, May 05, 2006

Cops should opt out of paid press

This is really over the top. Police in Patterson NJ paid $3,500 of the taxpayers' money to purchase a paid ad in which they published the names and addresses of suspects -- not those convicted -- of petty ante crimes. We're talking about people who solicited hookers, small time drug busts and a couple of underage drinkers.

At a time when budget constraints are already limiting the number of cops on the beat, this seems to me to be a criminal waste of resources and an ineffective PR move made for purely punative reasons. One doubts it will greatly deter anyone determined to buy sex or small amounts of drugs. Not to mention most newspapers already publish arrest info so what's the point?

The cops say it's worth it if it keeps even 10 of those perps out of their city and expect to make it a regular feature about every three months. One wonders if they would feel the same if the money came out their pocket instead of ours.